Mortimer played his defense at the 1883 London tournament against Berthold Englisch, Samuel Rosenthal, and Josef Noa, losing all three games.
[6] Johannes Zukertort, the tournament winner, also played it against Englisch, the game resulting in a draw.
[7] Zukertort wrote of 4...Ne7, "Mr. Mortimer claims to be the inventor of this move.
"[8] The first edition of the treatise Chess Openings, Ancient and Modern analyzed 5.Nc3 Ng6 6.0-0 c6 7.Ba4 d6 8.Bb3 and now the authors gave either 8...Be6 or 8...Be7 as giving Black an equal game.
[9] A bit more recently, Horowitz and Reinfeld observed of 4...Ne7, "This time-wasting retreat of the Knight to an inferior square blocks the development of the King Bishop ... .